three states to go…

now that the burglar has updated ya’ll on our farm adventures, here’s a quick look at what we’ve been up to since, and what should lie ahead of us. after leaving the farm, we took a short and wonderfully lazy day, only covering 12 or so miles, so we could enjoy swimming in a beautiful glacial pond along the trail. the days are still pretty muggy so any chance we have to dunk ourselves in water, we take advantage of!

Our day on an organic farm

We arrived in Sheffield, Mass on the 4th of July without much fanfare. Having noticed days earlier that one of the AT guidebooks lists an organic farm ( Moon In The Pond Farm ) on which one can do some work in exchange for a place to tent and some meals, we had arranged to take Saturday the 5th off from hiking and spend the day helping out.

After brief introductions at the farmers market – our rendezvous point with the farm crew – we were driven to the farm and given our task for our stay, weed this:

 

Hello Connecticut, and Goodbye!

We’re really flying now! After our biggest day yet, we’re going to be out of Conn. in just a couple hours. I never would have thought of this state as having such beautiful mountains. There’s been plenty of water, spots to get in and wash/swim and we’ve had our own tour guide as we’ve been hiking with Stripe lately, a thru-hiker that started from Springer the same day we did. We’ll be in Sheffield, Mass tomorrow and hopefully latching onto some 4th of July party there.

I almost forgot!

We saw a bear. Finally. Day 100, leaving Mohican Outdoor Center just past Delaware Water Gap we encountered our first bear of the whole trip. It was probably 100-150 yards up in front of us when we saw it and as we fumbled for the camera, we slowly realized that the distance between us and the beast was diminishing. It still hadn’t seen us so after snapping some shots we knocked our trekking poles on the ground and made our presence known. The bear just stopped, looked up and with a look that said, “Oh yea, what are you going to do?” it just went back to eating blueberries before ambling down the side of the mountain.

Yes, it may be a bit soon for us to be at a computer again, but after staying with a mayor the other night, we’re now at a policeman’s house with 5 other hikers. The setup here is beautiful but the biggest thanks may be a result of them leaving water at area trailheads. There’s a startling lack of adequate drinking water in New Jersey & New York so it’s greatly appreciated when someone helps us out. If we can get back online later tonight, we will, but with the other hikers here (and the possibility of either Chimay or Ommegang), it may be difficult. Thanks to everyone who is helping us along the way, we really can’t thank everyone enough.

We’re finally back!

Well it has taken weeks, but we’re finally near a computer again – things just haven’t been as accessible in the north as they were down south. We’re in Uniontown, New York (which is much better than “We’re still bitter about the Civil War, Georgia”) and wow, did we have quite the set up here. We got in town early yesterday with intentions to resupply and quickly head back out but ran in to some friends for a few minutes. As they were leaving, the Mayor of the town walked up to us and offered to let us stay at his house, cook us dinner & breakfast and he’d help us slack pack 17 miles. So yes, we stayed here and it was great!

I don’t think I can recap two whole weeks, so you’re just going to get the quick highlights: We made it through the rocks in Pennsylvania. If I ever hike the AT again, I would skip most of Pennsylvania and not feel the least bit bad about it. Walking for miles and miles at a time without being able to comfortably put a foot down is just nonsensical. The climb out of Lehigh Gap near Palmerton, PA was cool – no dirt, just all rocks, some hand over hand stuff, but besides that, most of the state is just viewless and frustrating.

New Jersey is/was a short change from the rocks, some nice views, great trails and wonderful people – who knew? We’re toeing the NY/NJ border for a bit, but soon we’ll depart from Jersey for good. We’re supposed to have some views of New York City in the distance but with rain and clouds lately we haven’t seen it. We’re also supposed to get days and days of rain. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as a lot of water sources are low or dry already.

I’ve got to run since there’s so many people here at the mayor’s (long story, but it illustrates just how rude and selfish some thru-hikers are) but we’ll try to jump on when we can, it hasn’t been possible lately. By the way, we’re at mile 1350 moving right along.

gypsy moths, cicadas, and a rattlesnake…oh my!!

just quick word from ms. longstocking here. we’ve had an eventful week since leaving my parents. the heat, as hammy mentioned, has been INSANE! but luckily some rain the other day has helped bring down the humidity a bit. but we’ve been experiencing some crazy critter action recently. for the past two weeks, it’s been raining gypsy moth caterpillars and whatever “stuff” they drop down from the trees.

Welcome to new trail!

Finally, we have reached trail that I, Hamburglar, have not yet tread upon. Yesterday morning we left Boiling Springs, PA and having passed the footbridge over the Harrisburg Pike, crossed over into unknown territory and I couldn’t be more excited. It’s been really helpful thus far knowing what to expect from towns, hostels, etc. but now, it’s all new to both of us and it’s quite a thrill.

1,000 miles!!!

yep, we’ve officially reached the unofficial halfway point of the trail. harpers ferry, wv is called the “mental halfway point” (with the actual halfway point coming up a few days past there) and we arrived there on sunday afternoon. but of course, not without a few more adventures along the way…

pippi’s two cents

just a quick note from me before we head out again. the park was stunning and i can’t believe all the trail magic we were lucky enough to receive and i just wanted to give my own thanks to everyone. john, wendy, gina, dan, julie, alex and walt — that night of food and good company by the fire did so much to rejuvenate our spirits. and susan and mark (aka “mama and papa crush”) — it was such a treat to come out of the woods to the picnic area and see you all there. thank you so much!! we came out of this stretch incredibly well fed. and my birthday, despite being a bit rainy during the day, was wonderful. i bought a jiffy-pop popcorn thing at the elkwallow wayside (which i popped that night over the stove), and our friends hot cheese and birdbath gave me some oreo cakesters, so i feasted that night and was a happy girl. (if anyone out there has not yet discovered oreo cakesters, you must. they are fantastic. all the goodness of oreos, but in a soft, chewy cake.) we made it in to front royal yesterday and celebrated properly with a bottle of red wine (along with popcorn, that’s one of my biggest cravings out here so far) and pizza delivered to the room. once again, we’re leaving town fat and happy and looking forward to taking it a bit easier these next few days to harper’s ferry. my foot/shin is acting up at times, but hopefully this will help keep it under control until we can rest for a few days at my folks’ place in gaithersburg. we’re both looking forward to relaxing in an actual home and not a random hotel room! and with that, off we go to run our last few errands and make our way into the fourth, and final, virginia section of our guidebook.

Shenandoah treated us well

Before I start updating you all on everything that’s happened recently, I wanted to point out a couple things – two days ago was Pippi’s birthday ( Happy Birthday to her!) and secondly, huge thanks to Rainbow Brite & AJ for their wonderful maildrop they sent here to Front Royal, Va.

Ok, well, we plowed through Shenandoah (from hereon, “SNP”) pretty quickly – something like 20, 21, 20, 18 and two 13 mile days, 107 miles in 6 days. We realized that going through a National Park over Memorial Day weekend would bring an influx of day hikers & campers, but I’m not sure we were totally prepared for everyone.